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Why you have to keep an eye on Facebook

Matt McKeon has created an amazing infographic showing exactly how Facebook has come to open up information people post to a wider and wider audience over time. This is the reason why so many people are linking to Dan Yoder’s 10 Reasons to Delete Your Facebook Account. The problems with Facebook have been exacerbated by the fact that for many people, it’s their first read/write experience online.

I’ve been deciding what I do and don’t want to share with other people online for 25 years, since I started dialing up BBSes on a 300 baud modem. It shouldn’t be any surprise that I don’t post anything on Facebook, really. I do keep my account though, and I’ll explain why. A few months ago I got a message on Facebook from a guy who went to college with a high school friend of mine. He was trying to get in touch with my friend, and I guess had remembered my name, or came across my profile on Facebook, or something. I really don’t know. But if Facebook didn’t exist, or had I not been on it, maybe “Farmer Ted” and “Beaker” wouldn’t have gotten back in touch, and that would be sad. So I stick with my minimal Facebook presence, even though I don’t really care for the site.

One thought on “Why you have to keep an eye on Facebook”

I’m more of a Facebook lurker, although I do post some (mostly inconsequential) things. But I have my Friends separated into groups and I have the permissions for each group set up in such a way that people only see things that they probably already know. For example, more personal things can only be seen by people in the “Family” group. And no apps. And no “Friends of Friends” allowed to see anything. And I have a Blocked group for people who see as close to nothing as possible. And rechecking everything every time FB changes their policies is annoying. But I will admit it has been nice to connect with some old friends.